Home : Blogs : Sandy Nelson Realtor® Olympia Real Estate : Sandy Nelson - Olympia Real Estate Blog

Going Solar

...is fortunately becoming more and more popular in the US. On Saturday the 6th of October the National Solar Tour, now in its 12th year, will showcase the use of solar power.

One of the many tour locations is Olympia, where residences, as well as commercial buildings that use clean sources of energy and energy efficient design are open for visits by the public. Most locations will have docents on site to explain the special sustainable energy features. Among the places to visit in Olympia is the Batdorf&Bronson Coffee Roastery, the Olympia Farmer's Market and Dee Williams' 84 sq. ft. "little house".

For more information and a list of homes on tour visit the Chapter of American Solar Energy Society's website here.

Sandy Nelson
Realtor for Olympia Area Real Estate
www.sandynelsonrealestate.com

Posted by Sandy Nelson Realtor® Olympia Real Estate on 10/05/2007 12:04 AM

Comments (25)

sustainable energy, sandy nelson

This post has been included in Washington Information Thurston County, WA Information Olympia, WA Information
Post is included in group: Puget Sound - WA Real Estate

25 Comments on Going Solar

OCT

2007

I will check it out.

Sandy, I can not wait until this is a true viable source for homeowners... it can not be soon enough for me!

I would love to have my roof covered. Great Post Sandy!

I hadn't heard of this before, but can see it would have great benefits with all of the sunshine we have in Las Vegas. Thanks for the link!

Sandy - Thanks for highlighting this tour again! It is nationwide! I plan to at least get to"The Green House On Watson" here in Michigan. Wow! 84 sq ft house! I'm going to have to check that link out...I don't think I could get along in that small a space!

Ginger, I hope you had a chance to check it out.

Charles, I'm with you. I wish there was a greater push for alternative energy in this country.

Keith&Robin, Once solar becomes more mainstream, the prices of solar panels will become more affordable.

John, Las Vegas would be a perfect place. According to the Southern Nevada Chapter of Solar Energy Society, "Southern Nevada gets more sunshine than most anywhere on earth". Even more disappointing how little is done about it in this large metropolitan area, compared to our small town of Olympia, WA, where we get more days of rain than most anywhere in the US.

Mary, the "little house" has been featured on television and in a Time magazine article. It's truly amazing.

Sandy

Hi Sandy:

I am a bit surprised to see solar doing so well in Washington. You guys do have alot of cloudy days up there, no?

Bill, We have a lot of cloudy days, but also a lot of environmentally conscious people in Olympia.

Sandy

I know about those environmentally conscious people. We seriously considered moving there, but it was too far away from all of our family.

But solar is a viable source of energy for heating and cooling there?

Bill, with our long cloudy and rainy season, solar power is only useful as a supplementary source of power.

Sandy

Sandy:

Thanks. Any wind power ventures going on up there?

OCT

2007

It'll be an amazing day when solar power becomes commonplace in homes. Solar powered vehicles would also definitely help me with my mileage! Do you know exactly how common (in numbers) this is in America??

OCT

2007

Bill, Here is a site that lists wind power projects in Washington State: http://www.awea.org/projects/washington.html One would think we could take advantage of the winds coming in from the Pacific, but I have yet to see a wind mill on my trips to the coast. Another alternative would be to capture tidal energy, but I don't know if that's feasible.

Joshua, I'm from Germany, where it's extremely common place to see solar panels on the roofs of private homes, as well as windmills in the country side. I don't know the statistics of how common solar power use is in the US. but the world's largest PV installation is in Germany. It consists of 32,740 solar modules with a combined peak power output of 4 Megawatts.

"The country is now the No. 1 world producer of wind energy, with more than 16,000 windmills generating 39 percent of the world total, and it is fast closing in on Japan for the lead in solar power. Wind and solar energy together provide more than 10 percent of the nation's electricity, a rate that is expected to double by 2020."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/20/MNGRAAEL4B1.DTL

I wish the US would put more enrgy into alternative energy.

Sandy

Sandy,

The "solar greening" trend in our market is great but makes more sense in sunnier areas like eastern Washington and Oregon. Regardless, I'm glad to see more events like this.

Larry, the way I see it, the more solar panels are purchased, the more are produced. The more are produced, the more affordable they become. The more affordable they become, the more are bought and installed. It's all good.

Sandy

OCT

2007

I was at the City Council Meeting last night and the representatives of the new PUD Association talked about their new building at 212 Union. It has solar power and will provide about 40% of the energy needs of the building. They are having an Open House on October 17th. It is the new building next to the YWCA in downtown. It is also getting its certification as a LEED Platinum built structure.

Sarah, It's good to see the County and State officials lead the way and be an example for the rest to follow.

Sandy

OCT

2007

Hvae you seen this post on Renee Burrows blog? It is about photovoltaic roofing shingles! Lots of exciting things are happening in this field.

Great information. WE really could use this in California. We are having major energy problems. Thanks for commenting on my post about home staging.

Sarah, I first heard about photovoltaic roof shingles at an alternative energy fair when I lived in New York 7 or 8 years ago. It's an exciting alternative to the obtrusive solar panels on top of roofs.

Tina, "The Sunshine State" should be a prime location for solar energy.

Sandy